


Sleeping is serious business

by ferric



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Crack, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-07
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2017-12-31 18:14:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1034828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ferric/pseuds/ferric
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren and Levi started sleeping together. It was a good decision.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Some feel-good crack.
> 
> There is no banging but at least there is no sadness.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi had trouble sleeping. Eren helped.

Contrary to popular belief, the bed in the dungeon was actually more comfortable than the bed in the barracks from Eren’s trainee days, as Eren later found out. Interestingly but not surprisingly, it was Captain Levi who was in charge of all the laundry, so Eren’s sheets smelled like clean soap and sunshine like everyone else’s.

More interestingly though, Captain Levi’s bed was essentially made to be the same as his, as Eren found out one day when he was in charge of making all the beds, and, eyeing Levi’s bed with envy and giving in to his curiosity, had slumped onto the bed only to be met with the same feeling of dry straws digging into his back and the rough wooden frame underneath. Eren felt disappointed because he was expecting something expensive and comfortable, but at the same time, he was happy with the thought that the one person that he admired the most was more humble in nature than he originally thought.

Even knowing Captain Levi’s bed was the same as his, it didn’t stop Eren from shoving his face into Levi’s pillow and taking a long whiff of Levi’s musky smell. He thought about Levi undoing his cravat and the top few buttons of his shirt, and if Eren could nuzzle Levi’s neck, surely Eren would be blessed with the same scent—

"What are you doing?"

Eren jerked upright so fast that his vision spun violently, and it took a full five seconds for the world to still back to the image of Captain Levi standing by the doorway, giving him an annoyed look.

"I fell, sir," Eren said, wondering if he could get away with such a lame excuse.

Levi walked calmly into the room and yanked the pillow from Eren’s hand, and it was only then that Eren realized he hadn’t let go of the pillow, so he was definitely in trouble now.

However, instead of scolding Eren, Levi took the pillow to his nose and took a sniff. “What’s so interesting? You didn’t get something gross on my pillow, did you?”

"No sir!"

Levi eyed Eren suspiciously before he said, “Dismissed.”

"Yes sir!"

Eren scrambled out of the room so fast that he didn’t notice Captain Levi taking another sniff of the pillow, and then another, and another.

***

Eren wasn’t into gossips because he was above petty talks, thank you very much, but as he was forced into spending the past three hours scrubbing out dirt from everyone’s uniform cloaks the next morning, he couldn’t help but listen in to Petra’s and Auruo’s usual squabble.

"Why would tea help the Captain sleep?" Petra said, scrubbing what Eren guessed to be Auruo’s cloak more viciously than usual, judging from Auruo’s gasp. "Tea is what you drink to stay awake."

"I don’t see you have any better idea."

"Does Captain have trouble sleeping?" Eren joined in their conversation against his better judgement.

Petra and Auruo paused for a moment, and Eren felt the irritation rising inside him; ‘You can trust me,’ he wanted to say.

"He hasn’t been sleeping well," Petra said, and the irritation within Eren disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"It’s nothing a brat like you should be concern with," Auruo said.

"I want to help," Eren said. "I’m part of this squad too."

"You can help by finishing your chores instead of wasting time gossiping," Levi interrupted their conversation.

Petra and Auruo immediately returned all of their focus into scrubbing out invisible sweat stains, but Eren wasn’t quite discouraged. “Are you having problems sleeping, Captain?”

He could sense Petra and Auruo silently hissing at him to be quiet and stop bothering Captain, but he ignored them.

Levi looked uncomfortable. “Not since yesterday,” he said stiffly.

"Really?" Petra said. Auruo also had forgotten his vow to continue working to look at the Captain curiously.

Levi looked even more uncomfortable, if possible, and now it was Eren’s turn to ask the unwanted question. ”Did you do anything that helped you sleep?”

At this, Levi just gave Eren a strange stare. If there was a contest to see who could make the best expression of discomfort, Levi would win hands down.

"Get back to work!" Levi growled before walking away.

Eren watched him stomped off and said, “I don’t think he had as much sleep as he said he did.”

***

It was fairly obvious, as the days went on, that Captain’s mood improved for a brief period of time only to plummet into short bursts of temper right after. Everyone was quite shocked at the sudden change since they just had the chance to enjoy Captain Levi’s good mood for a few days, only for it to gradually disappear as if it had never existed.

"Are you having trouble sleeping again?" Eren asked, noticing the dark circles under Levi’s eyes.

"No," Levi snapped, and Eren jumped. When he looked up at Eren from his paperwork, he said more gently, "No."

"Maybe you could do what you did before again? When you first got your full night of sleep?" Eren suggested.

Levi gave Eren that strange, uncomfortable stare again. Then, he sighed, “No.”

A knock at the door interrupted Eren before he could say something.

"Captain?" Petra walked in. "Commander Irvin wanted to remind you that the meeting tomorrow with the Military Police is going to be a day long instead of half a day."

Levi rose from his seat. “Alright Eren. Let’s go.” He walked past Petra, who hastily left once she relayed the terrible news, and when he realized that Eren didn’t follow him and instead was standing in the same place he was before, Levi said, “I don’t have all day, Eren.”

"Yes sir!" Eren rushed to follow just as Levi began to walk away.

Eren hoped that he wasn’t in too much trouble.

***

"Wait," Eren blinked. "I don’t understand."

Levi had the most interesting expression of embarrassment on his face, and if Eren didn’t fear for this life, he would say that the Captain looked quite cute. However, this was the Captain, and so Eren settled for silence.

“It means exactly what it sounds like,” said Levi, crossing his arms impatiently. “Just do it, Eren. You said you wanted to help.”

“You want me,” Eren said. “To get into your bed.”

“No,” Levi said. “I want you to do…" He waved vaguely in the direction of his bed, "whatever you did the other day in my bed again.”

“So you want me to fall into your bed and sniff your pillow,” Eren said.

“If that’s what you did the other day, then yes,” said Levi.

Eren awkwardly repeated the same motions that he did when he slumped into Levi’s bed the other day, only with considerably less excitement with Captain’s eyes watching him closely. He took a whiff of the Captain’s scent from the pillow, the smell was even more overwhelming now that the pillow had been used for days, and Eren couldn’t help but let out a small sigh.

He realized with horror that the Captain was still in the room.

Eren slowly got off the bed, watching the Captain’s facial expression with trepidation.

“Give it to me,” said the Levi.

“Sir?”

“Give me the pillow,” Levi ordered.

“Yes sir.”

Levi lifted the pillow up to his nose, in the same manner that reminded Eren of that day, and as the Captain took a sniff, Eren watched with fascination as the tension from Captain’s shoulder melted away, his body relaxing and his eyes fluttering closed in contentment. All the pieces started connecting in Eren’s mind, and Eren realized why the Captain was able to get back his full night of sleep.

Then, as if he finally noticed that Eren was still in the room, Levi said stiffly, “You’re dismissed.”

Eren knew that he should leave, that it was the safe thing to do, that it was probably for the best that he pretended not to know and clamped down on the feelings prickling in his chest. But he found his mouth moving before he could stop it. “If it’s better for you, I could sleep with you instead…so you can get a good night sleep.”

Levi stared at Eren, and Eren knew that he was considering it.

“You’re dismissed,” Levi said firmly.

Eren tried not to let he disappointment showed on his face. He failed.

***

Eren was dreaming that he was at home once more, snuggling deep into his bed after a warm dinner by the fire, when he was jerked awake by a hand shaking his shoulder.

“Captain?” Eren said sleepily. A single candle in Captain Levi’s hand softened the harsh lines on his face, and the Captain looked away awkwardly as he said, “I’ll take you up on your offer.”

Eren had a moment of confusion in the midst of his drowsiness, but then he remembered what he'd said earlier in the day to Captain, and he smiled.

“Wipe that stupid smile off your face.”

Eren didn’t bother to follow this order. Instead, he scooted over to make room and lifted up his sheet. Eren couldn’t stop the grin from spreading over his face as Captain Levi blew out the candle and slipped into the bed with him, even if the Captain still kept at least an inch between them and his back to Eren.

The next morning, Eren woke up to Captain Levi spooning against his back, his face slack and young and peaceful with sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren and Levi tried to sleep with each other. It was hard.

Life was going swimmingly well with Levi slipping into Eren’s bed every night, Levi getting enough daily sleep, Eren becoming very comfortable with Levi latching on to his back, or even better, snuggling against his chest every morning, and neither of them daring to mention this in the morning. This system worked fairly well because both of them were enjoying the situation with none of the annoying discussions about their feelings.

Eren didn’t question that situation anymore. Some nights he stayed up and waited for Levi; some nights when training took too much out of him, he would sleep on one side of the bed and leave the other side for Levi, and sure enough, regardless of what he did, Levi would be next to him in the morning, the distance between them nonexistent.

Tonight was going to be one of those nights when Eren went to sleep first. Training was so exhausting that he nearly fell half-asleep into a pile of horse dung while cleaning the stables. Levi would come as usual, after he finished paperwork.

Such was their peaceful routine.

Was what Eren repeated to himself as he watched the ceiling for the past two hours.

He tried to sleep, he really did, and he was really tired, so he should be able to fall asleep quite easily. But every time he closed his eyes and tried to empty his mind, a stray thought would slip in, and then he would start thinking about it, and then he would remember that he had to sleep, and then he would tell himself to stop thinking, but that was also a thought, and then…

His brain refused to stop thinking, and he could not sleep.

“It’s alright,” Eren thought. He would wait until Levi came, and for reasons that Eren had not thought about too much, Levi’s body heat next to him would always make all the knotting thoughts in his mind and all the tense muscles in his body unwound. Eren would be able to sleep then, as soon as Levi came.

***

There was a grand total of five seconds when Eren wondered if it would be wise to storm up to Captain Levi and demanded to know where he was last night. Eren decided to do it anyway before he could think about the consequences.

“Good morning, Captain!” Eren’s loud voice attracted the entire table’s attention as everyone took a pause in their breakfast to watch Eren marched up to Levi.

“What is it?” Levi sighed, sounding and looking as exhausted as Eren was. Eren’s burst of anger cooled quickly, and he almost said, “Nothing” because he felt guilty, but then he remembered that it was Levi who ruined their routine, and—

“Good morning, everyone,” Commander Irvin stepped into the room. “Eren, you sounded energetic early this morning—very good.”

Eren placed his anger aside and saluted the Commander along with everyone else who rose from the table and did the same. Irvin gestured for everyone to sit down before walking to Levi’s side and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Sorry for keeping you up so late last night, Levi.”

That got a lot of raised eyebrows from everyone until Levi said, “Torture another poor soul into playing chess with you then. I told you that my strength lies in physical combat, not mental squabbles.”

“Yes,” Irvin said thoughtfully, looking as if he wanted to correct Levi on calling mental exercises ‘squabbles’ but decided to ignore it. “Maybe next time I could ask Squad Leader Hanji instead.” And here, Hanji gave him a smile. “It’s just at the time, I had trouble sleeping, and I happen to find you wandering in the hallway.”

If Eren wasn’t so tired, he would have laughed imaging Levi sneaking to the dungeon only to be caught red-handed by the Commander. Unfortunately, he didn’t get any sleep last night, so he felt nothing but irritation.

“What were you doing out so late anyway?” Irvin asked.

Eren looked at Levi in panic, and Levi calmly answered, “Just taking a walk. I couldn’t sleep either.”

“Oh, so that’s how Captain got his full night of sleep,” Petra said.

“I see,” Irvin said. “I’ve also had trouble sleeping. Maybe a bit of evening exercise would help. Do you mind if I join you next time?”

Eren shot Levi a look because _talk about an unwanted turn of events_. Levi didn’t look very happy about it as he said, “Sure.”

Levi turned to Eren, and Eren gave him a shrug. It really wasn’t a big deal. Levi accidentally walked into that one, and it was something that he couldn’t say no to without begging for more interrogation.

 _At least it wouldn’t take the entire evening,_ Eren tried to console himself. Levi would be late, but at least he would be there for Eren.

***

“You didn’t have to wait for me,” Levi sighed as he slipped in next to Eren. Eren resisted the urge to scoot closer to Levi because he didn’t think that Levi would appreciate that very much. “I smelled disgusting, but I’m too tired to bathe.”

“You don’t smell bad,” Eren said, and he meant it. To demonstrate, Eren leaned in and sniffed Levi’s shoulder, only to earn a shove from Levi.

“Stop that.”

“I’m sorry,” Eren said, although the strange redness at the tip of Levi’s ear didn’t make him feel sorry at all. “Thanks.”

“What?” Levi turned to face him, and Eren felt his face heating up at how close Levi was to him, and he really hoped that Levi wouldn’t notice it because this would make their bed sharing more awkward than it should be.

“For coming tonight,” Eren said.

Well, if things weren’t awkward before, they certainly were now.

“I’m the one that’s getting something out of it.” Levi looked away from Eren, staring more intensely at the boring ceiling than he should.

Eren wondered if he should mention that he was having problem sleeping without Levi by his side, but he didn’t know how Levi would react to it. Probably not well, considering how they had been trying to avoid talking about it.

“I don’t mind though,” Eren said. “I like that I can do something for you.”

Levi stared at him. He looked like he wanted to ask something, and Eren waited for it, waited for the inevitable conversation that they were supposed to have. Eren had made his first move. It was Levi’s turn now.

“It’s late,” Levi said, and Eren tried not to look too disappointed. “Let’s sleep.”

“Yes,” Eren said, even though he didn’t want to just yet.

It was the first night that Levi’s presence next to him prevented Eren from sleeping. And, judging from the shifting on the other side of the bed, Levi couldn’t sleep either.

***

It was as if the universe had decided that it didn’t want Eren to get any sleep because the next night, Levi didn’t come over either. Before Eren could ask Levi whether it was because of their strange conversation a day ago, and if it was, then Eren was willing to continue their status quo and never mention it again. He found out the real reason, however, when Hanji cheerfully thanked Levi for helping her with an experiment.

“I couldn’t find Moblit,” Hanji said, sounding way too happy for someone who was eating stale bread. “But luckily, you were out in the hall. Taking a walk again?”

“Yeah,” Levi said, sounding quite irritated as he sipped his tea.

Eren didn’t say anything. When he sat down on the table, he received a nudge on his ankle, and as he turned to Levi, Levi gave him a slight nod, and Eren understood. It was another rare occurrence, and Levi was going to come tonight, so it didn’t really matter.

Suddenly the bread didn’t taste stale at all. Eren was just glad that they were the same as they always were.

But apparently not because Levi didn’t show up, again.

Eren sighed into his pillow with frustration. He rolled over to Levi’s side of the bed and took in what little scent of Levi that was left, trying to remember the warmth next to his, Levi’s steady breathing in rhythm with his own. It felt like forever since Eren last slept next to Levi, and strangely, he really missed this, even though he had spent more nights without Levi than with Levi.

Eren groaned, preparing himself for another sleepless night. It would be nice if this bed was softer, Eren thought, if the pillow was fluffier, if Levi was against his chest, his hot breath tickling Eren’s skin. The thought felt nice, and Eren let himself sank into it, even though there was a voice hissing in his ear, “Eren, Eren, wake up,” he ignored it because he didn’t want to hear it right now. “Eren, what are you—” and Eren just wanted the voice to stop because the voice was being too loud, so he tightened his grip around Levi and tried to drown out the noisiness of the outside world.

The Levi in his imagination was all hard with muscles but warm. Eren felt Levi’s arm around him and Levi’s legs tangling with his, and for the first time this week, he fell into a dreamless sleep.

***

Everyone asked Eren about his red cheek the next morning.

“I fell out of bed,” Eren said, still feeling the embarrassment from what happened last night.

Hanji looked worried. “That doesn’t look like something that you get when you fell.”

“I smacked him,” Levi said, and everyone turned to look at him. “He sleepwalked into my bed and wouldn’t budge when I tried to wake him up.”

“That was harsh of you,” Hanji said with a frown, and Levi shifted his eyes away from her. “Are you getting enough sleep, Eren?”

“Not really,” Eren said, wondering how he could even begin to explain that he couldn’t sleep without Levi, and that last night, he literally hunted down Levi in his bedroom and kept Levi in an embrace so tight that Levi couldn’t break free even with his strength as humanity’s strongest. “But I’ll be okay.”

“Are you sure?” Levi said. “You were really out of it last night.”

“I’ll make sure that it wouldn’t happen again,” Eren said. “I just had trouble adjusting my sleeping habit for the past few nights, is all.”

Levi looked uncomfortable, while Hanji asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I’m fine,” Eren said, not really wanting Hanji to know the real reason why he couldn’t sleep. “I’m sure it will pass.”

If Eren was better at reading facial expression, he would say that Levi looked worried.

***

“Levi, do you mind taking over for Mike’s evening duties for the next few weeks?” Irvin asked, looking at Levi who clearly had dark circles under his eyes and was not very happy with being pushed into more responsibilities when he already had a lot on his plate.

“Sure,” Levi said, and Eren, who was holding a stack of paperwork for Levi, sighed to himself as he mentally prepared for another sleepless night.

***

Eren was busy stabbing the pitchfork into the hay spitefully when Levi decided to walk into the stable and interrupted Eren’s happy hay-stabbing time. Eren immediately stopped and pretended that he was working, however, before Levi even notice Eren’s therapeutic ritual of playing around.

“How are you doing?” Levi asked, and Eren sighed in relief when Levi wasn’t scolding him for the mistreatment of innocent hay and her life partner the pitch fork. “You’re not getting enough sleep.”

Eren wanted to clap and congratulated Levi on a job well done in guessing Eren’s predicament because Eren clearly couldn’t tell with all the dark circles under his eyes that mirrored the one under Levi’s. Instead, he said, “I couldn’t get a lot of sleep these days.”

Levi took another step closer, and suddenly, he was way too close for Eren’s comfort—well, actually, he was exactly within Eren’s comfort space because Eren's body automatically relaxed at the familiar scent of sweat and leather and mint soap, and his tired mind wanted to take advantage of this opportunity before it passed.

“Eren, what are you—” but before Levi could finish, Eren had pulled Levi into his arms. “Wait—” and then Levi was saying some other things, but Eren was really tired, and he was sure that they were falling fast onto the ground, but that was okay because the hay was his friends and now that Levi was here, he could sleep and—

Eren’s thought came to a halt as he fell deep into the world of dreams, surrounded by hay and Levi’s familiar scent.

***

Eren woke up, horrified, to the sound of Levi clearing his throat.

“We need to sort this out,” Levi said.

Eren gulped nervously.

***

Eren rushed down the hallway after kitchen duty, running out to the field where he knew Levi and Mike’s squad were taking a break from training. He knew that he was late judging from Levi’s annoyed frown. “You’re late,” Levi said.

“I’m sorry,” Eren said, walking up and lying down next to Levi who had already placed a blanket down on a grassy spot, hidden from plain view by tall bushes and a large oak tree. “You got this prepared.”

“Of course,” Levi said, snuggling against Eren’s chest. “Now shut up. We only have thirty minutes.”

“Yes sir,” Eren yawned, and fell asleep before Levi could say ‘good night’ by instinct.

***

Out of all their meeting places, the supply closet had to be Eren’s least favorite.

“I don’t understand why we can’t use your office,” Eren said, grudgingly poking at the comfortable sheets and pillows that Levi secretly stowed in here for their daily nap. They smelled like Levi’s bed when Eren buried his face in the soft fabric, and this would have been nice had it not for the fact that Eren had to bend his knees to fit in the narrow space.

It meant that Levi couldn’t snuggle up against him.

“My office is the first place that Irvin would come to look for me.”

“Not everyone can fit in a tiny closet like you,” Eren grumbled.

“Why don’t you try to make fun of my height again,” Levi said, shoving at Eren’s shoulder.

“I’m not,” Eren said. “I just thought it would be nice if we could actually make body contact?”

Levi sighed.

“You’re such a little kid,” Levi said. “Turn around.”

“There’s no room—”

“Just do it!”

_Bang!_

“What the hell was that? You clumsy kid.”

“I hit the shelf,” Eren said. “I’m sorry, but I actually have a normal height—”

“Stop complaining.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Eren said, although he didn’t sound sorry at all.

It was an awkward position, but Levi spooning against his back didn’t feel too bad.

***

“You know,” Eren said as they lay together, side-by-side, on their Survey Corp cloak on top of a stack of hay. “This feels a lot like my bed.”

“It is exactly like your bed,” Levi said.

“Is it really the same hay?”

“Of course. You think we have enough money to go buy special hay to make your mattress? Now shut up and sleep, we only have twenty minutes left.”

***

Life was returning to its swimmingly great pace again even though Eren and Levi couldn’t share the same bed anymore. Eren couldn’t sleep at night, still, but at least he got to have multiple naps with Levi throughout the day.

As Eren shuffled to what used to be Levi’s side of the bed, he realized with a pang in his chest that Levi’s scent was gone, and he really missed it even though he’d smelled it this morning, and this afternoon, and this evening before dinner. It still wasn’t enough though, and he really wished that they could return to their normal routine again.

If only.

***

“I can explain,” Eren blinked awake to the sound of Levi’s panicked voice.

“Eren!” Eren could hear multiple voices of Levi’s squad shouting at him. “Eren, are you in your right state of mind?” “Eren, are you an enemy of mankind—” “Eren!! Do you remember us?”

“Calm down!” Levi shouted above the voices, and Eren was momentarily confused because everyone seemed to be upset with him somehow, and he didn’t quite understand why. “Eren,” Levi said, and Eren glanced up at him. “Can you let me go?”

“Let you go?” Eren mumbled sleepily, confused, until he realized that he had Levi in a tight embrace with large titan arms sprouting from his shoulders to pin Levi flat against the bed, and he hastily withdrew his arms when he realized that he might have crushed Levi. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to—are you okay?” Eren said in a rush, but he lost his balance and fell spectacularly over the bed, rolling on the ground in a heap.

“The real question here is ‘are _you_ okay?’” Levi said, easily getting off of his bed. “My tiny arms have more weight than that. Have you even done your muscle training properly?”

Eren resisted the urge to say ‘hah, you admit that you have tiny limbs,’ and instead focused on the seriousness of the situation. “I have!”

“He’s always half-asleep during training though,” Auruo added unhelpfully, damn him. It was only then that Eren realized everyone around him had looked incredibly relieved, all because Levi quickly diffused the tension with his self-depreciating comment.

“He does try really hard though,” Petra said, and Gunther added, “Yeah, he always caught up to us, even though he’s exhausted from lack of sleep.”

Only Erd seemed to understand that Levi wasn’t actually angry at Eren, so he said nothing.

“Alright, as much as I love to stand around for small chats,” Levi said. “Everyone, back to bed.”

“I can’t,” Eren blurted out, feeling courageous with his titan arms disappearing away in a cloud of smoke.

“Why the hell not?” Levi gave him a harsh glare, and then looked at his squad who were still hovering at the door with no intention to leave. “You guys, get back to bed.”

“We want to make sure that everything is okay,” Petra said, and Levi frowned.

“No, you guys are just nosy.”

“We prefer to call it ‘curious.’”

Eren knew that this was a bad time to discuss this, but the matter of fact was, he’d missed Levi a lot, and the daytime naps weren’t enough. He wanted Levi by his side every night, wanted to feel Levi’s breath fanning against his neck, wanted Levi’s legs tangled up with his. “Can I sleep with you again? I really can’t sleep without you next to me.”

That quickly earned a series of angry responses.

“Wait, when did he get to do that?”

“When?”

“Why Eren?”

Levi shook his head and waved his squad away. “You guys, go to bed. Now.”

“But Captain—”

“That’s an order!” Levi said, and luckily, that was enough to get his squad to leave the room, although they did seem to be fussy about it, and Levi had looked like he was going to make training harsh tomorrow just to discipline them.

Levi locked the door after they left, and Eren watched anxiously as Levi walked back to bed. Eren thought that Levi had forgotten about him until Levi spoke, “What are you doing staring at me with such a stupid look for? Get in the bed!”

“Yes sir!” Eren scrambled to his feet.

“You’re such a kid,” Levi mumbled to himself as Eren hastily slipped under the sheets and nuzzled his nose against Levi’s neck. Eren felt himself slipping away again, but he managed to stumble out a few words before yawning tiredly.

“Can I come to your bed every night?”

“Yes yes,” Levi grumbled. “Just don’t make a scene next time.”

There was something relieving in having the truth out in the open for everyone because now, Eren didn’t feel guilty about hiding their nightly activities anymore.

“I really can’t sleep without you,” Eren said.

“I know,” Levi said, turning to his side to tangle his legs with Eren’s, and Eren fell asleep to the sound of Levi’s voice whispering to him. “I can’t sleep without you either.”

***

Life was going swimmingly well with Eren slipping into Levi’s bed every night this time, and now that the truth was out, Irvin stopped asking Levi about impromptu late night chess games, and Hanji stopped asking Levi about late night experiments. Suddenly, everyone stopped needing Levi for random midnight tasks.

“I think it’s important that Eren keeps his titan form under control,” Hanji said. “Even if that means he has to sleep with Levi every night. Are you guys okay with that?”

“I’m fine with it,” Levi sounded like he was irritated with having to deal with Eren even though he clearly wasn’t.

“Yes, it’s very important that I sleep with Captain,” Eren said, grinning when he caught Levi trying to hide his smile behind his cup of tea.

Levi sent Eren a kick underneath the table, and Eren’s grin broke into a laugh.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A drabble of crack.
> 
> A boner isn't funny, except when it is.

In hindsight, it would have been better if Eren hadn’t say anything. However, he felt too guilty to keep silent any longer, so the words came out before he could stop them.

"I’m sorry."

Levi sighed as he flipped onto his side to face Eren. He rubbed his face against the pillow to make a satisfying dent before he said, “What is it?”

"It’s a natural body reaction—"

Levi blinked awake completely and for good reasons because no decently good sentence in the world began with “It’s a natural body reaction.” In fact, on the scale of “Things not to say while in bed with someone in a completely platonic fashion,” it was pretty high up there, right next to, “I’ve slept with your mom/dad/siblings, I hope that doesn’t make things weird between us,” and “Please ignore the extra body parts.”

"Spit it out," Levi said slowly, in a tone that implied he’d rather Eren didn’t spit anything out at all, but he was only testing the shaky ground underneath his feet.

"I’m a little hard," Eren said, flushing in embarrassment.

Levi made a face like Eren should just let it calm down so both of them could move on in life as if nothing had happened. “Well—keep it down,” Levi said, but his gruff voice had the opposite effect, and Eren was definitely standing much more proudly than pre-Levi’s sexy voice.

"I’m harder now," Eren said, and Levi groaned.

"Take care of it in the outside then," Levi said, sounding very much not up to this right now.

"It’s cold out," Eren whined. 

"You can’t seriously think that you can jerk off while I’m right here," Levi said.

"I think it would help, actually," Eren said, and that earned a smack of Levi’s pillow to his face. 

"No."

"I have handkerchief underneath the bed."

"No."

"And a bottle of water. I can clean up after myself."

"No."

"Please?"

Levi glared at him, and suddenly, a cruel expression crossed his face, and before Eren could plead for mercy, Levi said.

"Auruo, sweaty and naked."

"I’m really sorry," Eren said. "My boner is gone now."

"Auruo, sweaty, naked, and slicked with oil," Levi said, and Eren flipped his back to Levi and buried his head underneath his pillow because fuck, that was a really gross image. Eren would like to scrub his mind clean now, thank you. 

But Levi wasn’t quite finish with his torture because Eren could feel Levi flushed against his back, Levi’s heat ghosting over his skin, and wow, that completely undid what the image of Auruo—no wait, he had made the mistake of thinking about it again. 

Never mind, boner was back down.

"Auruo doing things with a cucumber and a—" Levi whispered, and Eren cried out. "I’m sorry I’m sorry! I give, I give! Please stop."

Levi withdrew then, and Eren felt a light smack of Levi’s hand on through his pillow.

"Well, you’re welcome to jerk off in bed now. Don’t worry, I won’t tell Auruo."

"I want another Captain in charge of me," Eren said mournfully. 

"Too bad. You’re stuck with me." Levi sounded amused.

"Next time I’m hard, I’m definitely coming onto your pillow," Eren said spitefully, and that earned him another smack. 

"Try it and see if your little Yeager will survive after."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi went to the wrong person for advice.

Despite knowing that Eren wouldn’t dare to defile his precious pillow, Levi made sure to check his pillow every night before he went to bed. It was difficult to check without proper lighting since Eren went to sleep first these days, exhausted from experiments with Hanji, and Levi didn’t want to wake him, but it was easy enough to feel his hand for any suspicious dampness or stickiness. Not that he would know how to react if there was any. In fact, Levi didn’t know how he feel about the image of Eren masturbating into his pillow.

“Come is disgusting,” Levi said, slumping onto Erwin’s couch and swinging his feet onto the table with a rude _thump_.

Erwin glanced up at Levi from his paperwork. He looked torn between wanting to keep on working and humoring Levi’s strange whims. “Oh?”

“I don’t like having other people’s come on my pillow,” Levi explained, hoping that Erwin, with his infinite wisdom, would understand where he was coming from.

“That sounds reasonable,” Erwin said, sounding suspicious. “What brought this on?”

“The thing is—I’m okay with the act of that person masturbating. But not if my pillow suffers as a result.”

Erwin frowned, looked surprised, but said nothing. Levi felt strangely proud that he managed to shock Erwin. It didn’t happen very often. Erwin was one calculating bastard, and he always managed to map out every possible outcomes for any scenario. Except for Levi’s impromptu sexual crisis, apparently.

“It’s gross, but I’m flattered that he wants to masturbate to the thought of me. But I don’t want to sleep on a pillow with come. It’s disgusting. I don’t care if Hanji said that come can be good for haircare—” Not to brag, but his hair didn’t need the help.

Erwin hold up a hand. “Levi, sto—”

Levi wasn’t finished. “But that’s not the problem here. I shouldn’t want him to masturbate to me. I don’t like him that way, and—”

And the weird thing was—Levi shouldn’t feel so excited about Eren’s threat to come on his pillow…but he was. Eren was overly eager and earnest and sometimes infuriating, and Levi hated sharing his bed space. But even with all of that and the fact that Levi was only there in a purely professional basis, he couldn’t help but feel safe with Eren’s warmth flushed against his back.

“Stop!”

Levi shut up.

Erwin placed his papers down. He sighed, closed his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose. Then he looked up at Levi. And sighed again.

Levi waited patiently.

Erwin folded his hands under his chin, looking contemplative for a moment.

Levi tapped his fingers against his thigh. He wished Erwin would just go ahead and blurt out his advice already.

“Starting next week, everyone will participate in a sexual harassment seminar,” Erwin said in a tone that would not accept any protest.

Levi jerked up from his seat. But it wasn’t his fault in the first place. “But—”

“ _Don’t you dare try to get out of it._ ”

“I’ll never speak of this again.”

Erwin seemed to consider it for a moment, but said, “Try to bargain with me, and I’ll make it twice a week.”

“I’ll go.”

“That’s what I thought. And let’s never speak of this again.”

 

 

 

 


End file.
